thought i absolutely flunked the partner interview bit of the AC but they called me today and a partner also called to say congratulations. literally screaming into pillow rn and doing happy kicks
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I got a TC offer on my first try !!!
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- Start date
Jessica Booker
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- Aug 1, 2019
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My usual GIF response had to have a more festive feel!
Congratulations! This is amazing news!
Congratulations!!!! How awesome!!! Please do share any useful tips, advice or anything for us lot!
sure, i realise my post wasn't helpful at all to anyone who might be reading xdxd i was just so excited that day. now i'll write some reflections about it (thanks to Avni who let me know i could write reflections ! ). not all parts are relevant to TC AC so feel free to skip to the end. it's just this long because i want to do some real digging and internal reflection.
background
i'm an international penultimate year law student from an RG uni with a predicted 1st from first year grades.
i only made one application for wvs because of visa restrictions and also because i missed all october deadlines (i only realised that i wanted to become a commercial lawyer exactly on halloween day, which is the date i signed up to tcla ! )
i think my language skills were also at least marginally important to their decision because i spoke both asian and european languages, which matched their international footprint.
i submitted my application right on the minute of the deadline and got an invite to WG ~ 2 weeks later and HR interview ~ 1 week later. then came the case study, i'm just mentioning this because i think it was the best part of my application and also because HR called me to say that i did exceptionally well on it. i think i really differentiated myself from other candidates through the case study because i understood what the firm wants me to know. kinda like taking a test at school or uni, they have a curriculum too and the more you can cater to that curriculum, the higher your chances are gonna turn out in your favour. for example, i mentioned several concepts that they recently covered in a company podcast and could explain them in detail and how they could fit within the case study and firm services. i was also obsessive about structure, presentation, and numbering / bullet pointing everything. a really robust structure and format is definitely something that will stand out. i was also just really lucky that the topic (the case study topics were randomised) was something i knew a lot about because i was following it in my free time.
wvs
a big mistake i made was not paying attention or asking around how candidates were assessed for the TC. i was so focused on impressing my supervisors that i didn't know if my performance on the wvs was going to be factored into the final decision (it was not; it was merely a 'check' to see if there are any red flags in your behaviour). the night before the AC i was just sat in a pub trying to wrap my head around a complex company structure diagram just because i was an overzealous eager placement student trying to keep up with my supervisor, lol. looking back i should have managed my time better and told my supervisor that i am really committed to understanding the concept in more detail, but will do so immediately after the AC. but other than that, i really enjoyed the wvs and genuinely learned so much from it.
TC AC (online)
there were 3 components to this -
- presentation to partner and HR
- interview by partner and HR
- commercial awareness and litigious potential assessment
i think i could have performed more confidently and better had it not been for the absolutely freezing weather i was dealing with that week. our boiler got busted, so i had to find a room at university. but even at the university after wearing several coats i was still shivering like crazy. looking at the camera i had almost purplish lips lol. i can't imagine my poor interviewers interviewing a pale faced purply shivering mfer lmao but despite that it turned out alright for me, so i don't harbour any ill feelings about it.
presentation
we were given a week to prepare for the presentation, but i didn't make use of all of the preparation time given. i used 6 days to research everything i could focus on in the presentation, but only 1 day to prepare the actual script and materials. we could not use ppts but handouts were allowed. i made it really simple: just a 1-page outline of my presentation so they can refer back to it to follow my speech. my interviewing partner asked me how i came to choose this topic, and i truthfully told him that i prepared it in an evening, saying that i became confident in focusing on this one topic only after hearing a talk delivered by one of his colleagues. i guess he was impressed by my speed of preparation and throughout he was very interested in my adaptability as well - he mentioned my improv comedy experience a lot, even in the congratulatory phone call he gave me following the TC offer. it goes to show that even if it's a silly-sounding interest or hobby, it still counts in your favour as long as you're passionate about it and can tie some responsibility to it in some way. it also gave me a tag, i think some people from the firm know me as 'that improv girl' or something xd because i was asked about it during one of their interactive sessions. for reference i don't hold any posts in law/finance societies. my content of the presentation was good, and the timing was spot on, but i could have done a lot better making it interactive and pacing myself better, as i definitely felt like i was rushing through it. the partner liked that i was trying to get as much across in the time frame i had though, so i wouldn't say it was a hard and fast mistake.
interview
the interview was my weakest segment. i flubbed 'why did you choose to study law?' TWICE. in the first answer i tried to compare law to an another discipline i was interested in but it came out totally wrong; i asked to rescind my answer and then try to answer again, but the second time round it was even more unconvincing than the previous answer. at that point i didn't even have two brain cells to rub together anymore, i was just saying to myself mentally, 'it's okay, you will apply for more things in january.' after this flub i made sure to pause before every question and drink water all the time. this was probably the only real f*ck-up in the TC AC so i guess they overlooked it, but i could tell already that the HR interviewer was so not impressed lol as she asked me half-hearted questions after that. but i think i saved myself by doing well on the questions regarding a commercial topic i was interested in. i don't know a lot about the financial markets and instruments out there, but i can read most FT articles easily so that really helped my preparation. i also follow channels like Coffeezilla and ColdFusion just for fun, i listen to them more consistently and frequently than tuning into BBC business news for example. so i used a lot of examples in my answers even when the partner played devil's advocate just to reinforce my points.
the partner interviewer also asked me about legaltech, i mean everyone was expecting a question on this so of course i had something to say, and referenced another firm's technologies while comparing it to the firm's own tech. he pushed me and asked for the name of the tech, i responded with the firm's name and the description of the tech, and promised him to send a link with those details after the interview, which i did and he responded quickly after. i think that counted in my favour massively because the info was actually accurate and i had something more substantial to put in the post-interview thank you email.
commercial awareness
the commercial awareness exercise was my best performing segment. we had to speak / argue for two topics that we chose out of a list. one topic was something i knew a lot about, but the other was just something that was full of talking points, and even though i knew nothing about it, i wasn't really fazed by their questions because it was just a juicy contentious topic. again, i used a real life example in every answer i gave. for this type of exercise you just need to be confident and think from different stakeholders' points of view as well as short/long term and PESTLE frameworks. explain your position and how you got there. i think tcla did many many explanation posts about this, please search them up if you are interested !
closing
and yes i think that's it, that was how i spent the coldest week of 2022 with something to show for it at the end
my advice to TC hopefuls out there would be
- play to your strengths - choose something that will really showcase how brilliant you are, not just something that sounds impressive
- talk to people from the firm and find someone that really inspires you and can tell you everything that matters, not just 'fluff' answers - i understand that this is not possible for everyone but my motivation for and knowledge of the firm were massively increased by an associate of theirs that i met at an event, and have kept in touch since as kind of like a mentor. we talked for 1.5 hours in a restaurant before my wvs interview which really increased my confidence, if nothing else. you know how at networking events you never get a real idea of anything substantial because all the trainees or associates have to represent the company? yeah, find someone who really gives you the nitty gritty details, who can be honest with you, who is successful at what they are doing and are proud to share it with people
- communicate a lot - i connected with my supervisors and people outside my department even because i was genuinely interested in all areas of the firm, allowed me a better understanding of the firm as a whole and make a better impression
- take everything seriously - i guess everyone here does this already but i have friends who just 'wing' certain steps and kind of sabotage themselves by not prepping seriously, despite having lots of potential. when the firm website says 'you don't have to prepare for this~' don't trust them. you absolutely still do. every step of the way requires prep and can be improved SO MUCH if you prep.
my SO after congratulating me said, 'it's good that you succeeded this time, but if you failed, i think you wouldn't have been able to handle it'. he's right, i think i definitely would have hated myself for a very long time if i flunked this TC AC because i had high expectations for myself and had invested a lot of time already in performing for the firm. before receiving the wvs offer, i was an anxious mess; before receiving the TC offer, i was constantly distracted and obsessive about this one firm. i'm just lucky that i have an AC offer from an MC firm to look forward to and to worry about. if i had failed, i definitely would have blamed myself for not staying warm, for flubbing the 'why law' question, questioning my abilities, etc. in an unnecessarily harsh way. going forward, i have to improve on this character trait of mine and focus less on results because there are just so many things out of my control.
background
i'm an international penultimate year law student from an RG uni with a predicted 1st from first year grades.
i only made one application for wvs because of visa restrictions and also because i missed all october deadlines (i only realised that i wanted to become a commercial lawyer exactly on halloween day, which is the date i signed up to tcla ! )
i think my language skills were also at least marginally important to their decision because i spoke both asian and european languages, which matched their international footprint.
i submitted my application right on the minute of the deadline and got an invite to WG ~ 2 weeks later and HR interview ~ 1 week later. then came the case study, i'm just mentioning this because i think it was the best part of my application and also because HR called me to say that i did exceptionally well on it. i think i really differentiated myself from other candidates through the case study because i understood what the firm wants me to know. kinda like taking a test at school or uni, they have a curriculum too and the more you can cater to that curriculum, the higher your chances are gonna turn out in your favour. for example, i mentioned several concepts that they recently covered in a company podcast and could explain them in detail and how they could fit within the case study and firm services. i was also obsessive about structure, presentation, and numbering / bullet pointing everything. a really robust structure and format is definitely something that will stand out. i was also just really lucky that the topic (the case study topics were randomised) was something i knew a lot about because i was following it in my free time.
wvs
a big mistake i made was not paying attention or asking around how candidates were assessed for the TC. i was so focused on impressing my supervisors that i didn't know if my performance on the wvs was going to be factored into the final decision (it was not; it was merely a 'check' to see if there are any red flags in your behaviour). the night before the AC i was just sat in a pub trying to wrap my head around a complex company structure diagram just because i was an overzealous eager placement student trying to keep up with my supervisor, lol. looking back i should have managed my time better and told my supervisor that i am really committed to understanding the concept in more detail, but will do so immediately after the AC. but other than that, i really enjoyed the wvs and genuinely learned so much from it.
TC AC (online)
there were 3 components to this -
- presentation to partner and HR
- interview by partner and HR
- commercial awareness and litigious potential assessment
i think i could have performed more confidently and better had it not been for the absolutely freezing weather i was dealing with that week. our boiler got busted, so i had to find a room at university. but even at the university after wearing several coats i was still shivering like crazy. looking at the camera i had almost purplish lips lol. i can't imagine my poor interviewers interviewing a pale faced purply shivering mfer lmao but despite that it turned out alright for me, so i don't harbour any ill feelings about it.
presentation
we were given a week to prepare for the presentation, but i didn't make use of all of the preparation time given. i used 6 days to research everything i could focus on in the presentation, but only 1 day to prepare the actual script and materials. we could not use ppts but handouts were allowed. i made it really simple: just a 1-page outline of my presentation so they can refer back to it to follow my speech. my interviewing partner asked me how i came to choose this topic, and i truthfully told him that i prepared it in an evening, saying that i became confident in focusing on this one topic only after hearing a talk delivered by one of his colleagues. i guess he was impressed by my speed of preparation and throughout he was very interested in my adaptability as well - he mentioned my improv comedy experience a lot, even in the congratulatory phone call he gave me following the TC offer. it goes to show that even if it's a silly-sounding interest or hobby, it still counts in your favour as long as you're passionate about it and can tie some responsibility to it in some way. it also gave me a tag, i think some people from the firm know me as 'that improv girl' or something xd because i was asked about it during one of their interactive sessions. for reference i don't hold any posts in law/finance societies. my content of the presentation was good, and the timing was spot on, but i could have done a lot better making it interactive and pacing myself better, as i definitely felt like i was rushing through it. the partner liked that i was trying to get as much across in the time frame i had though, so i wouldn't say it was a hard and fast mistake.
interview
the interview was my weakest segment. i flubbed 'why did you choose to study law?' TWICE. in the first answer i tried to compare law to an another discipline i was interested in but it came out totally wrong; i asked to rescind my answer and then try to answer again, but the second time round it was even more unconvincing than the previous answer. at that point i didn't even have two brain cells to rub together anymore, i was just saying to myself mentally, 'it's okay, you will apply for more things in january.' after this flub i made sure to pause before every question and drink water all the time. this was probably the only real f*ck-up in the TC AC so i guess they overlooked it, but i could tell already that the HR interviewer was so not impressed lol as she asked me half-hearted questions after that. but i think i saved myself by doing well on the questions regarding a commercial topic i was interested in. i don't know a lot about the financial markets and instruments out there, but i can read most FT articles easily so that really helped my preparation. i also follow channels like Coffeezilla and ColdFusion just for fun, i listen to them more consistently and frequently than tuning into BBC business news for example. so i used a lot of examples in my answers even when the partner played devil's advocate just to reinforce my points.
the partner interviewer also asked me about legaltech, i mean everyone was expecting a question on this so of course i had something to say, and referenced another firm's technologies while comparing it to the firm's own tech. he pushed me and asked for the name of the tech, i responded with the firm's name and the description of the tech, and promised him to send a link with those details after the interview, which i did and he responded quickly after. i think that counted in my favour massively because the info was actually accurate and i had something more substantial to put in the post-interview thank you email.
commercial awareness
the commercial awareness exercise was my best performing segment. we had to speak / argue for two topics that we chose out of a list. one topic was something i knew a lot about, but the other was just something that was full of talking points, and even though i knew nothing about it, i wasn't really fazed by their questions because it was just a juicy contentious topic. again, i used a real life example in every answer i gave. for this type of exercise you just need to be confident and think from different stakeholders' points of view as well as short/long term and PESTLE frameworks. explain your position and how you got there. i think tcla did many many explanation posts about this, please search them up if you are interested !
closing
and yes i think that's it, that was how i spent the coldest week of 2022 with something to show for it at the end
my advice to TC hopefuls out there would be- play to your strengths - choose something that will really showcase how brilliant you are, not just something that sounds impressive
- talk to people from the firm and find someone that really inspires you and can tell you everything that matters, not just 'fluff' answers - i understand that this is not possible for everyone but my motivation for and knowledge of the firm were massively increased by an associate of theirs that i met at an event, and have kept in touch since as kind of like a mentor. we talked for 1.5 hours in a restaurant before my wvs interview which really increased my confidence, if nothing else. you know how at networking events you never get a real idea of anything substantial because all the trainees or associates have to represent the company? yeah, find someone who really gives you the nitty gritty details, who can be honest with you, who is successful at what they are doing and are proud to share it with people
- communicate a lot - i connected with my supervisors and people outside my department even because i was genuinely interested in all areas of the firm, allowed me a better understanding of the firm as a whole and make a better impression
- take everything seriously - i guess everyone here does this already but i have friends who just 'wing' certain steps and kind of sabotage themselves by not prepping seriously, despite having lots of potential. when the firm website says 'you don't have to prepare for this~' don't trust them. you absolutely still do. every step of the way requires prep and can be improved SO MUCH if you prep.
my SO after congratulating me said, 'it's good that you succeeded this time, but if you failed, i think you wouldn't have been able to handle it'. he's right, i think i definitely would have hated myself for a very long time if i flunked this TC AC because i had high expectations for myself and had invested a lot of time already in performing for the firm. before receiving the wvs offer, i was an anxious mess; before receiving the TC offer, i was constantly distracted and obsessive about this one firm. i'm just lucky that i have an AC offer from an MC firm to look forward to and to worry about. if i had failed, i definitely would have blamed myself for not staying warm, for flubbing the 'why law' question, questioning my abilities, etc. in an unnecessarily harsh way. going forward, i have to improve on this character trait of mine and focus less on results because there are just so many things out of my control.
Last edited:
Wow! I'm so glad you decided to share more about your journey! Your ability to reflect upon your experiences is super rare!sure, i realise my post wasn't helpful at all to anyone who might be reading xdxd i was just so excited that day. now i'll write some reflections about it (thanks to Avni who let me know i could write reflections ! ). not all parts are relevant to TC AC so feel free to skip to the end. it's just this long because i want to do some real digging and internal reflection.
background
i'm an international penultimate year law student from an RG uni with a predicted 1st from first year grades.
i only made one application for wvs because of visa restrictions and also because i missed all october deadlines (i only realised that i wanted to become a commercial lawyer exactly on halloween day, which is the date i signed up to tcla ! )
i think my language skills were also at least marginally important to their decision because i spoke both asian and european languages, which matched their international footprint.
i submitted my application right on the minute of the deadline and got an invite to WG ~ 2 weeks later and HR interview ~ 1 week later. then came the case study, i'm just mentioning this because i think it was the best part of my application and also because HR called me to say that i did exceptionally well on it. i think i really differentiated myself from other candidates through the case study because i understood what the firm wants me to know. kinda like taking a test at school or uni, they have a curriculum too and the more you can cater to that curriculum, the higher your chances are gonna turn out in your favour. for example, i mentioned several concepts that they recently covered in a company podcast and could explain them in detail and how they could fit within the case study and firm services. i was also obsessive about structure, presentation, and numbering / bullet pointing everything. a really robust structure and format is definitely something that will stand out. i was also just really lucky that the topic (the case study topics were randomised) was something i knew a lot about because i was following it in my free time.
wvs
a big mistake i made was not paying attention or asking around how candidates were assessed for the TC. i was so focused on impressing my supervisors that i didn't know if my performance on the wvs was going to be factored into the final decision (it was not; it was merely a 'check' to see if there are any red flags in your behaviour). the night before the AC i was just sat in a pub trying to wrap my head around a complex company structure diagram just because i was an overzealous eager placement student trying to keep up with my supervisor, lol. looking back i should have managed my time better and told my supervisor that i am really committed to understanding the concept in more detail, but will do so immediately after the AC. but other than that, i really enjoyed the wvs and genuinely learned so much from it.
TC AC (online)
there were 3 components to this -
- presentation to partner and HR
- interview by partner and HR
- commercial awareness and litigious potential assessment
i think i could have performed more confidently and better had it not been for the absolutely freezing weather i was dealing with that week. our boiler got busted, so i had to find a room at university. but even at the university after wearing several coats i was still shivering like crazy. looking at the camera i had almost purplish lips lol. i can't imagine my poor interviewers interviewing a pale faced purply shivering mfer lmao but despite that it turned out alright for me, so i don't harbour any ill feelings about it.
presentation
we were given a week to prepare for the presentation, but i didn't make use of all of the preparation time given. i used 6 days to research everything i could focus on in the presentation, but only 1 day to prepare the actual script and materials. we could not use ppts but handouts were allowed. i made it really simple: just a 1-page outline of my presentation so they can refer back to it to follow my speech. my interviewing partner asked me how i came to choose this topic, and i truthfully told him that i prepared it in an evening, saying that i became confident in focusing on this one topic only after hearing a talk delivered by one of his colleagues. i guess he was impressed by my speed of preparation and throughout he was very interested in my adaptability as well - he mentioned my improv comedy experience a lot, even in the congratulatory phone call he gave me following the TC offer. it goes to show that even if it's a silly-sounding interest or hobby, it still counts in your favour as long as you're passionate about it and can tie some responsibility to it in some way. it also gave me a tag, i think some people from the firm know me as 'that improv girl' or something xd because i was asked about it during one of their interactive sessions. for reference i don't hold any posts in law/finance societies. my content of the presentation was good, and the timing was spot on, but i could have done a lot better making it interactive and pacing myself better, as i definitely felt like i was rushing through it. the partner liked that i was trying to get as much across in the time frame i had though, so i wouldn't say it was a hard and fast mistake.
interview
the interview was my weakest segment. i flubbed 'why did you choose to study law?' TWICE. in the first answer i tried to compare law to an another discipline i was interested in but it came out totally wrong; i asked to rescind my answer and then try to answer again, but the second time round it was even more unconvincing than the previous answer. at that point i didn't even have two brain cells to rub together anymore, i was just saying to myself mentally, 'it's okay, you will apply for more things in january.' after this flub i made sure to pause before every question and drink water all the time. this was probably the only real f*ck-up in the TC AC so i guess they overlooked it, but i could tell already that the HR interviewer was so not impressed lol as she asked me half-hearted questions after that. but i think i saved myself by doing well on the questions regarding a commercial topic i was interested in. i don't know a lot about the financial markets and instruments out there, but i can read most FT articles easily so that really helped my preparation. i also follow channels like Coffeezilla and ColdFusion just for fun, i listen to them more consistently and frequently than tuning into BBC business news for example. so i used a lot of examples in my answers even when the partner played devil's advocate just to reinforce my points.
the partner interviewer also asked me about legaltech, i mean everyone was expecting a question on this so of course i had something to say, and referenced another firm's technologies while comparing it to the firm's own tech. he pushed me and asked for the name of the tech, i responded with the firm's name and the description of the tech, and promised him to send a link with those details after the interview, which i did and he responded quickly after. i think that counted in my favour massively because the info was actually accurate and i had something more substantial to put in the post-interview thank you email.
commercial awareness
the commercial awareness exercise was my best performing segment. we had to speak / argue for two topics that we chose out of a list. one topic was something i knew a lot about, but the other was just something that was full of talking points, and even though i knew nothing about it, i wasn't really fazed by their questions because it was just a juicy contentious topic. again, i used a real life example in every answer i gave. for this type of exercise you just need to be confident and think from different stakeholders' points of view as well as short/long term and PESTLE frameworks. explain your position and how you got there. i think tcla did many many explanation posts about this, please search them up if you are interested !
closing
and yes i think that's it, that was how i spent the coldest week of 2022 with something to show for it at the end
- play to your strengths - choose something that will really showcase how brilliant you are, not just something that sounds impressive
- talk to people from the firm and find someone that really inspires you and can tell you everything that matters, not just 'fluff' answers - i understand that this is not possible for everyone but my motivation for and knowledge of the firm were massively increased by an associate of theirs that i met at an event, and have kept in touch since as kind of like a mentor. we talked for 1.5 hours in a restaurant before my wvs interview which really increased my confidence, if nothing else. you know how at networking events you never get a real idea of anything substantial because all the trainees or associates have to represent the company? yeah, find someone who really gives you the nitty gritty details, who can be honest with you, who is successful at what they are doing and are proud to share it with people
- communicate a lot - i connected with my supervisors and people outside my department even because i was genuinely interested in all areas of the firm, allowed me a better understanding of the firm as a whole and make a better impression
- take everything seriously - i guess everyone here does this already but i have friends who just 'wing' certain steps and kind of sabotage themselves by not prepping seriously, despite having lots of potential. when the firm website says 'you don't have to prepare for this~' don't trust them. you absolutely still do. every step of the way requires prep and can be improved SO MUCH if you prep.
my SO after congratulating me said, 'it's good that you succeeded this time, but if you failed, i think you wouldn't have been able to handle it'. he's right, i think i definitely would have hated myself for a very long time if i flunked this TC AC because i had high expectations for myself and had invested a lot of time already in performing for the firm. before receiving the wvs offer, i was an anxious mess; before receiving the TC offer, i was constantly distracted and obsessive about this one firm. i'm just lucky that i have an AC offer from an MC firm to look forward to and to worry about. if i had failed, i definitely would have blamed myself for not staying warm, for flubbing the 'why law' question, questioning my abilities, etc. in an unnecessarily harsh way. going forward, i have to improve on this character trait of mine and focus less on results because there are just so many things out of my control.
I particularly resonate with the point you made about taking everything seriously - prepping for every stage sincerely, whether it's a 2-minute test or a hour-long case study, really is key!
I also felt the same thing you did after you TC about not being able to handle it if I didn't get through. Makes you realise just how much of yourself you need to give to this process sometimes and how hard it is to not invest yourself entirely..
I'm so, so happy for you - many congratulations on securing your TC!
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